Huatai Securities kicks off Shanghai-London Stock Connect

FILE PHOTO: A worker adjusts British and China (R) national flags on display for a signing ceremony at the seventh UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue "Roundtable on Public-Private Partnerships" at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing September 21, 2015. REUTERS/Andy Wong/Pool

Shanghai-listed Huatai Securities, which counts Alibaba (BABA.K) as a strategic investor, said in a filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange that it has been given the green light by China’s securities watchdog to issue global depository receipts (GDR) at the London Stock Exchange.

Huatai didn’t give a fundraising target on Friday, but it has previously said it aims to raise at least $500 million.

The go-ahead from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) would mark the launch of the Shanghai-London Stock Connect, which would allow companies publicly traded in Shanghai and London to list on each other’s bourses via the issuance of depository receipts (DRs).

“The program offers us access to one of the deepest and most influential capital markets in the world,” Zhou Yi, Chairman and CEO of Huatai, said in a statement to Reuters.

“We are pleased to be the first issuer to tap this new market of enormous potential and unprecedented opportunity,” he said, adding the offering would help Huatai expand its overseas footprint and strengthen its capital position.